Diary – 8 June 2017

Hundreds of terrorists and suspected terrorists have gone through the British educational system. Yet amid all the pre-election talk about extremism, I have not heard a single mention of the role that schools could play in countering future radicalisation. Do teachers, for example, ever look at online Islamist propaganda together with their Muslim pupils and analyse its distortions? When teaching history or politics, do they actively encourage an appreciation of British institutions and values? I doubt it. Most teachers in the state system are, on all available evidence, left-leaning and so are likely to teach from a largely anti-western perspective. Primary schools are just as important as secondaries. But in primaries, teachers have, for decades, clung to the wrong-headed theory that instilling factual knowledge in young children is incompatible with their self-development. So even though this is just the age at which children are most eager to learn and enjoy structured lessons, they leave primary schools with very little sense of history.

A few days ago I bought a case of wine from my favourite vintners, Tesco online, but on opening the first bottle, I didn’t much like it. So, on the off chance, I phoned to ask whether they would take back the five remaining bottles and reimburse me. They agreed — without any questions asked — and came to collect them the following day. Two days later they had refunded all six bottles. Superlative service. I first started shopping at Tesco as a private protest against the snooty attitudes of my liberal elite friends, who wouldn’t be seen dead there. I have since become a total convert — Tesco fruit and vegetables, just for a start, are fresher and better than those in classier supermarkets, and of course cheaper.

Walking round the streets in my west London neighbourhood, I noticed that yet another new patisserie has suddenly sprung into being.